Murder At The 18th St. Garage[1]

This song has an official music video, featuring JD's force ghost.

Lyrics

I'm in the repair bay casting spells
Mystic in the glow of the spotlight
Ringing out the funeral bells[2]
Tending the fires[3], gathering power
May I present the man of the hour

Placing his faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing his faith in the strength of the safety visor[4]
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser

I'm down on the concrete with a bucket and rag[5]
When you've got a big job to do
You notice how the moments drag
Live in the present, savor the grind
Relish the time before you have to leave it behind

Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser

Smarter but scared, now
Wearing an exile's mark[6]
One that's going to glow in the dark[7]

I'm out on the sidewalk, scrubbed clean
Take all your worry and care
Feed it to the big machine
Once you commit[8] to the turn,[9] you're going to have to[10] follow through
Cover your eyes[11] when the splash comes[12]
It's the only thing you can do

Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser

Banter

Notes

Rather than being coy about it let me tell you that somebody gets killed in this song, which is, at best, a short-term solution to Jenny’s problems, not that I’m saying she herself did anything. It’s her word against his now and he can’t talk anymore and she’s long gone by the time the EMTs get to 18th Street. Under oath, I will testify that she was with me because I am with her. I knew when I wrote this tune that Wurster-Hughes Inc. would eat it up like a big tasty snack, and guess what, they did. Lace up your dancing workboots but wear some inserts because this one’s a sprint. (Bandcamp, 2023-09-26)

Live Performances

Footnotes

1. Subtitle: "Behold, you may not rezone my house".↩
2. Both mechanic garages (possibly including those located on 18th Street) and churches holding funeral bells (as in "for whom the bell tolls") toll bells to mark arrivals. Generally they do not toll bells to announce murders as they're happening.↩
3. "tending the fires" sung as "casting the runes" (2023-10-02, 2023-10-03, 2023-10-06, 2023-10-28, 2023-12-02, 2024-04-12), "tasting the runes" (2023-10-05), "testing the waves" (2023-10-07, 2023-10-27), "testing the runes" (2023-10-29)↩ 4. Depicted as a welding visor in the music video.↩
5. cleaning blood out of concrete is, as depicted in the music video, not the easiest task when you only have a wet, soapy rag, and also just murdered a dude. (Fire and EMS use either acid or hydrogen peroxide and a pressure washer or a super stiff brush.)↩
6. Eteocles exiled Polynices before the events of Seven Against Thebes. Ostracism was a formal exile practiced in Athens where citizens could vote to kick someone out for 10 years. The mark of Cain is a reference to the book of Genesis, wherein Cain murders his brother Abel and God "sets a mark upon [him]".↩
7. Blood stains appear as a dark spot (full absorption) under ultraviolet light, such as those used in a forensic investigation. Other bodily fluids (urine, semen, saliva) glow. ↩
8. "submit" instead of "commit" (2023-10-05, 2023-10-06, 2023-10-27, 2023-10-28, 2023-10-29, 2023-12-02)↩
9. Two implications: the moral turn (see Heel Turn 2) and the physics of turning on a motorcycle. Once you lean into the turn, trying to abort the turn can lead to worse crashing because centrifugal forces and tangents and shit.↩
10."kind of have to follow through" (2023-10-27)↩
11. "ears" instead of "eyes" (2023-10-02, 2023-10-27, 2024-04-12)↩
12. The "splash" here is presumably blood, which can inoculate the eyes with bloodborne illnesses. ↩